The suspension is from a minor unnamed NCAA infraction. DePriest will be back on the field for the next game against Florida Atlantic on Sept. 6.

Junior Reggie Ragland and sophomore Reuben Foster will start for the first time in their careers. Freshman Shaun Dion Hamilton and junior Dillon Lee are the backups.

DePriest has been hurt much of preseason practice with a knee injury that limited his work. This allowed other players develop.

“They got a lot of work because Trey missed eight to 10 practices,” Saban said. “That gave us a real opportunity for us to prepare if the guy who makes the calls and gets the signals from the sideline if he wasn’t there. I think that this is not something we anticipated but certainly it was something we were able to prepare for because of his absence because of his injured knee.”

The loss of DePriest is a big blow for the Crimson Tide in production and leadership.

He’s going into his third year as a starter, is the leader of the front seven and runs the defense.

DePriest was third on the team in tackling last season with 65. He also forced two fumbles, recovered two, registered two sacks and intercepted a pass.

“We are not too worried about it,” outside linebacker Denzel Devall said. “We leave that up to the coaches. We have great personnel and great players. We’ll be ready come Saturday.”

Kiffin on the field

New offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin will call plays from the sideline, even though he prefers to be in the press box.

“We are going to put him on the field,” Saban said. “I always let the coordinators be where they want to be. But in this case, even though he felt more comfortable being in the press box, I think it’s important he is on the field. He has the greatest impact on the players.”

When Saban was a coordinator early in his career he liked to call the plays from the press box, but learned in the NFL that it’s better to be on the sideline to interact with players.

Saban is concerned with his offense that will feature a new quarterback and wants Kiffin to be able to help him along in the game.

“I usually don’t make them come down on the field, but we are this year,” Saban said.

Real defensive line depth

Back in the spring, Saban didn’t think there was depth on the defensive line even though he brought in high-end freshmen and junior college layers to replace to starters off to the NFL.

Saban was uncertain about them developing so he said there are only people there on paper but they haven’t played a down.

His tune changed after preseason practice. He actually likes his team’s depth after new coach Bo Davis worked with them in the offseason.

“I think that up front, defensive line-wise, we’re a lot better than what we were last year.,” Saban said. “I think we have more guys that have more experience that are more ready to play. I think we’re a little more athletic up front.”

“I don’t know if it’s the coach or the commitment or what, but they’ve gotten a lot harder to block in practice just by grabbing hands to certain moves they use,” Shepherd said. “I can definitely see a complete difference in them. I think it’ll be better pass rush, better run block stop, all that.”

Ticket update

A limited number of tickets at $35 are available for the Florida Atlantic game on Sept. 6. The sale begins Thursday at midnight and ends on at 11:59 p.m. Friday. Tickets must purchase online at RollTide.com.

Tickets also remain for the Southern Miss (Sept. 13) and Western Carolina (Nov. 22) games at $55 each.

Contact Cliff Kirkpatrick at cliff.kirkpatrick@decaturdaily.com. Follow him on Twitter @cokirkpatrick.